Raining

8/21/12

It's amazing how God can answer prayers and then add some extra blessings on top of it! Here are some things God is doing...

1. Showing me how to lean into Him more
2. Answering prayers about our finances and growing Kyle's business like crazy
3. Helping me with budgeting/meal planning
4. Revealing and providing some great ways to teach Abigail about God's love and truth

Tonight a few things happened that I just got excited about and am SO THANKFUL for...all in about an hour time span. ha!

1. Someone we know is getting a new freezer and offered to give their current one to us...for free...and it works/no issues.

2. We are going to be able to buy part grass fed/grain fed beef for.....about $1.50 a pound!!!! It's from a family member of the same people giving us the freezer. You can't find a deal like this anywhere...and now we have a way to store extra food!

3. Our neighbors across the street offered and gave us a double stroller, also for free. wow.

4. I've been praying for ways to help earn a little extra money before Hannah comes but be able to have Abby with me. Well, the school my mom works at needs some help with kids for the next week and a half so I am going to go in the mornings and work a little but Abby gets to go and be in a class for free. So I will be earning extra money and won't have to worry about childcare...wow.

5. Abby did not come out of her room again tonight...yay!

6. A personal training client confirmed that he will be purchasing one more package with me before I have the baby...so more extra money. yay!

7. I'm also just feeling a sense of peace and closeness with the Lord tonight...His love is extravagent

It's just amazing to me how you can pray about specific things and God answers them. Plus, He can figure out ways to make it work before you have to figure it out. Thank You Lord.

Homemade Tortillas

8/18/12

Homemade Tortillas. Who knew you could make them at home and taste delicious?? Have you looked at the ingredients on the tortillas you buy at the store? There is a huge list of crap on them. Usually hydrogenated oil is listed (tricky way of saying there's trans fat). If you find a decent tortilla, they're pretty expensive. No more!! 

Ever since I stepped into the fitness and nutrition world, I have been on a journey to find better quality foods. Not just foods that have "better" or lower calories on the package, but foods that have "real" and quality ingredients. Honestly, my view of "healthy" has transformed a little in the last few years. It's not low-fat or no fat that makes something healthy, it's going back to the source....to the ground or the animal. Finding foods that aren't processed inside a chemistry lab and factory plant. 

Therefore, I have thrown out the box mixes of brownies, cakes, muffins, etc. I have found that you can make all those things and more at home and use REAL ingredients (most of which we have in our cupboards) and guess what? They usually taste as good or BETTER! You just have venture out and find recipes, which isn't hard with the internet....and my blog posts :) 

Tortilla Recipe

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup butter

1/2 cup hot water

Put first 3 ingredients in bowl and mix together. Cut in butter. I usually cut it in chunks and then use fingers or pastry fork. Sorry I didn't get pictures of this part cause I didn't think about it till the next couple steps.

Pour in hot water and form into a ball. Kneed dough a few times (less than a minute). Form into balls. I did 10 larger tortillas, so 10 balls. 

I like using a griddle that plugs in so it regulates the temperature constantly and doesn't get too hot. Or you can use a skillet with no spray.

Flour surface and put ball on it. Sprinkle with a little flour.

Use Rolling pin and roll very thin.

Put on hot skillet for 30 seconds or so. Let it bubble a little. I don't let it brown very much.

 Flip and let it cook another 30 seconds or so.

BAM. That's it. Use the tortillas for whatever you wish. They do taste great.

I got large plastic bags to put them in. If you leave them out then they'll get crispy and crack when you go to use them.

Homemade tortillas are not only less processed, they're more cost effective. These cost about 75 cents to make....not too shabby when you will pay more than twice that for ones at the store. And 10 large tortillas adds up to about 6 grams a fat per tortilla...not horrible, especially because there's only 5 ingredients. I hope you try it out and stop buying store bought tortillas!

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UPDATE!!!!!!! 

If you would like less mess it's totally possible. I didn't like how (flour-ie) my hands would get while eating the tortillas. So now I don't dust with flour and the tortillas don't stick when I roll them. Win win. Plus the pan doesn't smoke because of dry flour being on it. Also, I had issues with the tortillas getting a little hard. So I put a towel over the plate of freshly made tortillas, lift it up to put a new one on. It keeps them moist so they stay soft. Them I out them in a large Baggie or cover the plate tightly in plastic Wrap. So now they are less messy and more soft like ones you buy at the store...but taste way better!

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Bench Project

8/17/12

I completely forgot to post about the bench I painted. Here's the photos from it. Here's the bench I bought at Habitat for Humanity Resale shop last summer (yes it's a church pew). Kyle is happy to have it out of the garage!

I sanded it and forgot to prime...oh well. So I had to paint more black on it.

But I think it turned out great! I did a coat of polyurethane on it to make sure it won't mark or chip.

I still would love to make a cushion to go on the bench and baskets that fit underneath to go all along the bottom. We like it and it provides an extra touch along the half wall.

Money Journey-Budgeting

8/12/12

I haven't written about our money journey lately but I wanted to share some things we are doing to keep finances on track. We have always had a budget and have not always followed it. There have been times where I have been too controlling about it and Kyle has gotten frustrated with me. You see, I'm the saver and he's the spender. When you get married and combine different personalities/ways of doing things sometimes you just have to step back and figure out what works for you so you tear off each other's heads. Ha.

Anyways, I had to completely back off of money for a while because I felt it was the best thing for us at that time. But lately I have prayed about how I can be a wife that helps us with finances. So we both agreed that I should keep track of the budget. Kyle made an awesome spreadsheet that allows me to type in all our transactions, income, and see what our budget is. When I put in a transaction it pulls from the right category of our budget so we know how much we are spending on each thing. This is so great because now I can have more peace about going to the grocery store or what bills are left to pay for the month.

The other thing I am using is a grocery and meal spreadsheet. I am keeping track of all my purchases from the grocery store and how much each item costs. This allows me to break down meals I make to know how much each one costs us. Now I can go more prepared to each store with knowing how much I plan to spend....plus, it is helping me see price differences in stores. WOW. What a difference. Let me share...

Block of cheese from Walmart...regular price $2.58. From Aldi.....$1.79

Honey Nut Cheerios.....$3 or more. From Aldi.....$1.59

Greek Yogurt from Walmart $1.00....from Aldi $.89

Low fat cream cheese from Walmart is at least $1.89 but from Aldi it's $1.19

Cheese-itz from most stores $2.50-$3.00 ($2.00 on a good sale)...from Aldi $1.49

Buying ingredients for a homemade pizza and making one costs about $3.00 from Walmart. Making one with ingredients from Aldi costs less than $2.50. These are just a few examples. If I can save this much continually, what a difference in our budget! Especially when it's stuff I buy week after week.

I don't buy everything from Aldi because there's a lot of processed foods but they are getting more organic and better quality options for less money. I can get organic soy milk there and I just found all natural peanut butter that doesn't have junk in it.

So those are a couple things I'm doing. Hope this gives you ideas!

Under Construction

8/9/12

Alright. I have the vision for Hannah's room and I am pumped about it! I have already bought a couple things for the room and hope to start working on it soon. Abby is going to the Montessori school in less than a month so I want to work on it while she is at school. I don't like doing things that take away from our time or when I feel rushed and have to do it during nap time. 

Here are pictures of the room in it's current condition...it's hodge podged right now.

Plain.

Oops blurry.

Needs new stuff.

 But I am not going to show ANYONE what the room looks like until I'm done with it. Yup, not even family! The door is going to stay shut and I want to make it a fun surprise. So stay tuned for a big reveal!

Oh, here's Abby and I shopping. She loves pulling clothes off the rack and saying, "Wow, pretty!" Such a girlie girl :)

Homeschool and Preparation

7/30/12

So I got a homeschool cd from Confessions of a Homeschooler. I won't actually do the program with her for another year but I like to plan and be ahead! It's a lot of stuff to print and laminate so I'd rather be prepared and enjoy the process. Besides, I'll have to coordinate when I want to do everything and I'll have another child so I will probably be busy. Ha. Here's what I've done so far. 

I printed out everything for the letter A. I laminated everything that needs to be laminated and cut the pieces. Some papers you don't laminate and the child cuts or colors on them. With those I decided to print 2 because I'll eventually do it with Hannah. Yes, I am going to be prepared!!

Then I decided that I wanted to store it all in one place and be organized so I know where everything is. For the small pieces I put them in baggies and labeled the baggies so I won't lose the pieces. Then I have this handy box my mom gave me the other year.

I've been using it to store my papers for Fit For Life, but won't need to anymore. So I cleaned it out and threw a bunch of stuff away.

Now it's my Homeschooling box! There's plenty of room for all kinds of organization to happen. I'm so excited.

Also, I go these jars and pressure canner from a FB group, Shop the House. I know the lady I bought these from at church. I plan to do salsa soon, apple sauce, and apple pie filling. I am so excited because Kyle has been doing things in my large laundry room to get it ready for all my jars.

I got all this stuff at a great deal....how much?? $40! 30 large jars and a pressure canner. Wow. Thank you God! I definitely have enough jars for all the canning I want to do.

Also, I'm thinking about having my mom do this cake for Abby's birthday. What do you think? I love it. It will be a Minnie Mouse themed party, so the cake will be something with her on it. This car is just so cute!

Thanks to everyone who has prayed for me with my health. It is so nice to not be sick and to feel some of my usual energy and excitement for life. This pregnancy has been wearing me down with sickness and a little bit of depression/moodiness (which is just not me). 13 weeks to go!

Mac and Cheese

7/29/12

You know when you get mac and cheese at restaurants and it's so yummy? But at home all you make is box? Well, no more! You can make homemade mac and cheese goodness and it's really not hard. Here's the recipe!

Mac and Cheese

1/8-1/4 cup flour
1 cup milk (split in half)
1 cup elbow macaroni noodles cooked
1/2 block mild cheddar cheese (about 1 cup)
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
dash pepper

Start water for macaroni noodles and boil. While water is heating up, put flour and 1/2 cup milk in small sauce pan and whisk constantly at low-medium heat. When milk starts to boil, put other 1/2 cup milk in. Cut the cube of cheese into blocks and and put in milk. Mix constantly so the cheese melts. Make sure you cook the elbow noodles at the same time (according to package). Put parmesan in cheese mixture and pepper. When noodles are strained, add cheese mix to noodles and serve. I like to sprinkle extra parmesan on top as well. Enjoy!

Serves 2.
Double for 4-5 people but keep flour at 1/4 cup.